Many thanks to everyone who participated and made our tasks so difficult! The final choices followed the poetry form, more or less and referred to specific features found in local commutes. Although potholes are a worldwide phenomena, they still feel very local when you hit one.

Michael Maloney / SF Chronicle

Alan Selfridge with his dog Maggie ride the abandoned SP rails near the Dumbarton Bridge, East Palo Alto, using an outrigger bicycle contraption. Dec 30, 1986.

Honorable Mentions:

Although we can’t give out nifty prizes to everyone, we do want to mention some other entries that caught our ear, like these haiku:

Calm sunny morning

Right click, left click: pedals on

Let the dance begin

– Mark M

Ride to the Caltrain

Clamber aboard with my bike

We’ll glide past the cars

– Jason D

Pain, sweat, aching lungs

Cobbles and steep hills my foe

I’m no Lance Armstrong

– Kim, Seattle

got on my fixie

went to my ex girlfriends home

i got arrested

– sorryrecords

Dharma wheel go far

Through cobweb minded me On

Meditative ride

– Tony, Oakland

Morning breezes

disturb summer stillness.

A rock in the path, avoided.

– fergie348

Spokes ticking the time,

I cannot pause for sunrise

And still make my train.

– wodeford

.. and these two fine limericks from username ‘RBenson:’

If drivers and bikers used care

In motating from right here to there

There’d be no insanity

Injuries or profanity

Can you imagine a world quite so fair???

– RBenson

While biking to work for an hour

I’m increasing my cardio power

But it is a sure bet

That I’m pouring sweat

So Thank God the place has a shower!!

– RBenson

Finally, some entries predictably railed against cycling in general, but that always happens on this site whenever the words bicycle or cyclist appear. Here’s one limerick from the appropriately named user “rideabike” that offered a rebuttal: